We all know the so-called butterfly effect, which is part of the essence of chaos theory, a law raised by James Yorke that reminds us of something fundamental. The world does not follow a millimeter and predictable agenda; Like it or not, chaos also exists in our lives, that small space of destiny in which it is almost impossible to predict the effect of certain events.
It is common to associate chaos theory with its original elements: mathematics and physics, however, we often forget that these sciences have a direct application in our daily lives.
- In fact.
- Few paradigms have such a direct impact on many of our areas of behavior and knowledge.
- In addition.
- James Yorke himself sums up the significance of his theory in one sentence: you have to be willing to change your plan at any time.
“In life, it’s important to be flexible. I don’t plan things, would I rather discover them?
Each of us has some tolerance for uncertainty. After a while, our brain is in “alert” mode sooner than it can happen.
We prefer stability, to know that two plus two is four, and that what surrounds us and what we have today will remain with us tomorrow, all of that gives us an emotional balance.
However, the theory of chaos indicates that life and its outcome do not respond to the perfect rhythmic advancement of a clock, the unpredictable and uncontrollable still lives among us.
It’s the sword of Damocles that can fall at any moment, it’s the butterfly that flies in the United States today, and then it’s going to come to Europe in the form of an economic crisis, it’s the white ball we throw at the pool table that moves the rest of the balls, sometimes in unexpected directions.
Chaos theory says, in a nut words, that the outcome of an event depends on different variables whose behavior we cannot always accurately predict; there is always a margin of error, a space for fate, a flapping of wings that, at the end of the moment, changes everything. Sometimes a small difference has a big effect.
Some say that chaos theory is one of the most wonderful areas of modern mathematics, a science that tends to predict the behavior of virtually unpredictable systems.
Let us not forget that, until not long ago, the aim of the scientific world was to eliminate the variable of “uncertainty” so that we could accurately describe the behavior of almost everything.
Today, however, this margin is accepted where fate and the unpredictable can, at some point, change everything; in fact, this is what meteorologist and mathematician Edward Lorenza discovered in 1961, when he tried to create a computer system to predict time.
Suddenly, he realized that due to a rounding error in the numbers, the entire system had begun to exhibit visibly unpredictable behavior. Subsequently, this experiment was used to formulate the famous butterfly effect.
Chaotic phenomena are common not only in nature, but also in weather forecasts or even biology, and there is no free zone of this unpredictable behavior.
In this way, all these chaotic phenomena occur every day, without anyone noticing, in economics, thermodynamics, astronomy and even psychology.
We now know that any small alteration of our brain (such as the alteration of a neurotransmitter) can produce quite drastic changes in our behavior. In addition, psychiatry also applies chaos theory. Sometimes, when administering a drug to a patient, there is a low probability that the observed effect will be the opposite of the expected one.
“The slight flapping of a butterfly’s wings can be felt on the other side of the world. “Chinese proverb?
In our day-to-day life we all try to avoid chaos, only in this way do we feel safe, only in this way can we build lives in which the predictable allows us to leave the house without fear, look to the future with confidence. Well, as James Yorke, the father of this theory, explains, it’s better to be prepared to change plans at any time.
This principle is somehow linked to other current theories. We refer to the logic of the “black swan”, enunciated by the economist and mathematician Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
In his remarkable book, which bears the same title as his theory, he recalls that most people are conditioned by a world view in which everything seems, at first glance, predictable. However, at some point, does the strange, the chaotic appear?event we didn’t expect. An unpredictable event that we are forced to take on and rationalize.
Instead of having to act when this chaos is already installed before us, it would be ideal to be prepared. James Yorke reminds us that people who succeed and are happy are the ones who always have a plan?B? Up your sleeve
We will strive to develop a flexible mindset and a point of view that is not limited to reacting to events, but to confront them with curiosity and acceptance, because opportunities are often chaos.